A Dutch culinary professional connects his background in hospitality with a critique of MasterChef Australia. He contrasts European food safety standards against the show's use of soft-boiled eggs and rosé meat. The central question: Does the show's focus on culinary art irresponsibly ignore the serious Salmonella risk linked to factory farming, demanding urgent public health warnings?
I think I have written before that my original profession is Hospitality and related. In practice, this means that I have the following diplomas: "Cook, waiter and bread/pastry chef. At this point in my life, I still largely use this acquired knowledge at home to cook. During my life I have been able to make the switch to other things, such as insurance, financial affairs, and management and business administration. Yet I have never been able to completely let go of my original love for the profession of cooking. I still enjoy watching cooking shows on television. In the present time, I like to watch the programme MasterChef, and especially the Australian version of this fantastic cooking show.
I enjoy the culinary delights of the MasterChef candidates every evening.
Every evening, I settle down in front of the television to enjoy the atmosphere and the healthy battle in the program from Australia. As you may already know, there are several versions of this program that are made all over the world and are also broadcast everywhere. What appeals to me most in the Australian version is the overall sporty spirit that the participants in this version radiate. Each candidate is sportively connected to each other until the final. For me, the new cooking ideas that I gain are of great importance for my own cooking, but the "Semper Simul" (always together) feeling almost splashes off the screen with this program."
It is wonderful to see how the participants embrace each other after each assignment.
How the participants keep embracing each other, and how some have difficulty saying goodbye to each other when someone drops out and does not meet the set standards. But this bliss and getting to know dishes that are new to me, is not the only thing that strikes me again and again in this Australian program. I also recognize preparation methods of products and/or dishes that we in the Netherlands (Europe) can no longer use or are not allowed to use for a long time because of so-called food safety. I can still remember very well that as a child in the (19) sixties and (19) seventies I was invited by a soft-boiled chicken egg, or soft-fried rosé chickens or pork. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible in this time (2025) because of the so-called salmonella bacteria.
Did the Salmonella Bacteria Originate from Mass and/or Factory Farming?
I know that we as the Netherlands are a major export country for meat (chicken) and eggs. I now also know that the majority of our products are not eaten by the indigenous inhabitants of our country but are transported directly on a plane or in a truck to other countries. And then it is mainly about the first quality of these products. I also know that I personally should not buy eggs in the supermarkets in the Netherlands. When I buy eggs from the Dutch supermarket, I can expect my intestines to get upset. Chicken meat that is not fully cooked also produces the same result for me.
In Australia, they still eat rosé pork and chicken meat, and soft-boiled eggs.
I can well remember the days in my youth when boiling a chicken egg took exactly three or three and a half minutes. Now in 2025 I have to boil the eggs in the Netherlands for about six minutes. In the seventies of the last century, my father, who died far too early, ate or drank a raw beaten egg with milk on his empty stomach. It was said at the time that this gave a lot of strength. A raw egg was also often added to the oatmeal porridge. As I wrote before, you don't have to try that anymore in this day and age in the Netherlands. But how can this still be the reality of everyday life in Australia?
Is there also a cooking advice for Meat and Eggs in Australia?
Yes, but how can it be that in my beloved cooking show Master chef no or insufficient attention is paid to this? According to Ai, this is why: "The 'undercooked meat' and 'soft-boiled eggs' in MasterChef is likely due to the culinary demands of the program, which focus on showing skill and creativity, and not necessarily on the safety or health of the dishes. Incompletely cooked meat may actually be desirable for certain dishes, as it retains the flavour better, while soft-boiled eggs can add a more complex texture and flavour than hard-boiled eggs."
Isn't public health in Australia and around the world harmed by copycat behaviour of the viewers of the MasterChef cooking competition?
Shouldn't it be the case that warnings should be displayed during the broadcasts of MasterChef or other cooking programs on television to warn the subjective viewers of these types of programs about possible food poisoning?
